Christophe Kern’s Uphill Attack Wins Stage Five of the Criterium du Dauphine

Christophe Kern of Europcar celebrates after winning the Stage Five of the 63rd edition of the Criterium of Dauphin&#233. (Pascal Pavani/AFP/Getty Images)

Stage Five of the 2011 Criterium du Dauphiné was the first of climbing stages with three mountaintop finishes; the first of the three stages which would decide the winner of the Dauphiné.

Stage Five was the easiest of the three, with a pair of Cat Two climbs, a longer uncategorized climb, and a Cat Two climb to the finish.

The peloton set a devastating pace over the first half of the stage; there were numerous attacks but no one could escape the flying mass of riders.

Halfway through the stage, after the first two climbs, the pace dropped, as though everyone stopped for a moment, to catch their breaths. RadioShack’s Jason McCartney picked this point to launch his bid.

The game young rider led the field for 100 kilometers, but when he hit the base of the final climb, he slowed.

Behind him, Tony Martin of HTC-Highroad attacked at the base of the climb, with Pierre Rolland (Europcar) and Maciej Paterski (Liquigas) in tow. This trio caught McCartney at the 9 km mark and kept on up the mountain.

A trio of chasers— Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank,) Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ,) and Oliver Zaugg (leopard Trek)—bridged to the lead group, catching them with 6.7 km left. As sson as they juncture was made, Zaugg attacked opening a gap of 24 seconds before he faded.

Movistar’s David Lopez and Europcar’s Christophe Kern headed off to catch the chasers, while Katusha, riding for Joaquin Rodriguez, and Sky, riding to protect Bradley Wiggins in the yellow jersey, pulled the peloton more swiftly up the slope.

With 3.1 km left in the climb, the chase group, now composed of Rolland and Kern, Martin and Lopez, caught Oliver Zaugg. Martin began fading almost immediately, Rolland and Lopez soon after.

Attacks on the peloton were numerous. Saxo Bank’s Chris Sörensen, David Moncoutie (Cofidis) and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar,) Astana’s Alexandre Vinokourov all launched unsuccessful bids. Bradley Wiggins and his Sky teammates covered everything, determined to keep the yellow. Cadel Evans shadowed Wiggins, defending second place.

With 2.5 km left, the peloton caught Tony Martin, and Christophe Kern attacked the remainder of the lead group. The Europcar rider hadn’t won a race in seven years, but he felt strong on this stage and he dug deep to open a small gap.

The attacks continued behind: Dan Martin of Garmin-Cervelo made two very determined attacks, with Chris Sörenson and David Moncoutie. Sörenson went again, this time with Thomas Voeckler, who was riding to protect his teammate, Kern.

Sörenson dropped Voeckler in the final 500 meters, but by then Kern was safe. The French rider crossed the line seven seconds ahead of his Danish pursuer.

“Three weeks before the Tour de France, this is my best win ever so far,” Kern told letour.fr.  

“It’s super to win here today because the Dauphiné is a big race and this is a mountain stage. I got close two years ago at the Tour de France in Arcalis. I tried again on Stage One here on Monday but I got caught with 800 metres to go.

“[Team manager] Jean-René [Bernaudeau] encouraged me loudly. I’m very happy for the whole Europcar team. We’ve done a great job today.”

Bradley Wiggins kept the yellow jersey. He faced no serious attacks, but he and the Sky team defended the yellow jersey by covering every minor assault.

“My team made all the right moves to day making sure no big breaks got away. Eventually Jason McCartney went away and that was perfect,” Wiggins told Eurosport. “Now I just give it everything tomorrow. I believe if I do that I‘ll still be in yellow.

“Then we’ll look to Sunday but tomorrow is the main Sunday is slightly easier—only a bit but people are getting tired now. We’ve been racing for nearly a week—there are no superhumans out there at the moment.”

Saturday’s stage will demand almost a superhuman effort. 192.5 km from Les Gets to Le Collet d’Allevard, it starts with a pair of Cat4 climbs, then a Cat 2, a Cat 3, the Cat 1 Col du Grand Cucheron—and then finishes with the Hors Categorie ascent to Le Collet d'Allevard.

Expect major altercations to break out on this stage. Here is where the Dauphiné will likely be won or lost.

2011 Criterium du Dauphiné Stage Six results
1	Christophe Kern (Fra)	Europcar	5:05:03
2	Chris Anker Sörensen (Den)	Saxo Bank Sungard	0:00:07
3	Thomas Voeckler (Fra)	Europcar	0:00:09
4	Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa)	Katusha Team	0:00:09
5	Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz)	Astana	0:00:09
6	Bradley Wiggins (GBr)	Sky Procycling	0:00:09
7	Thibaut Pinot (Fra)	FDJ	0:00:09
8	Daniel Martin (Irl)	Garmin-Cervelo	0:00:09
9	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel)	Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:00:09
10	Ben Hermans (Bel)	RadioShack	0:00:09
General Classification after Stage Five
1	Bradley Wiggins (GBr)	Sky Procycling	18:02:30
2	Cadel Evans (Aus)	BMC Racing Team	0:01:11
3	Janez Brajkovic (Slo)	RadioShack	0:01:21
4	Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz)	Astana	0:01:56
5	Rui Alberto Faria Costa (Por)	Movistar Team	0:02:22
6	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel)	Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:02:28
7	Christophe Riblon (Fra)	AG2R	0:02:45
8	Ben Hermans (Bel)	RadioShack	0:02:46
9	Jerome Coppel (Fra)	Saur-Sojasun	0:02:52
10	Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Blr)	HTC-Highroad	0:02:52